April 15, 2010

WACO, Texas - A crowd of 900 was on hand at the annual Lady Bear Appreciation Banquet, sponsored by the Tip Off Club, at the Ferrell Center on Thursday night. Fans participated in Baylor's celebration as they shared dinner, enjoyed the awards ceremony and watched a video of the season at the conclusion of the banquet. In addition, lone senior, Morghan Medlock, was honored.

Medlock gave an eloquent speech reflecting on her two season at Baylor. She thanked the fans, staff and players for all of their support of her during her time on the Waco campus. Medlock, who will graduate in December, especially thanked head coach Kim Mulkey, saying "she figures out how to pull the best out of girls and turn them women."

Mulkey, her staff and the squad put the finishing touches on another highly successful season, a year in which the team was advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four for the second time in five years and made its ninth trip to the annual postseason tournament. Baylor finished the season at 27-10 and ended the year ranked No. 4 in the Coaches Poll and No. 18 in the AP Poll.

At the end-of-season banquet, freshman Brittney Griner (Houston, Texas) was named the team's most valuable player and garnered the team's rebounding award as well. Another freshman Shanay Washington (Austin, Texas) received the Defensive Award while Kelli Griffin (Houston, Texas) and Medlock (Pasadena, Calif.) each earned the Coaches Award. Melissa Jones, a junior from Thornton, Colo., received the Lady Bear Award and freshman Kimetria Hayden (Dallas, Texas) was tabbed the team's most improved player. Lindsay Palmer, a sophomore psychology major from Tulsa, Okla., earned her second straight Academic Award.

Griner led the team, and was among the national and Big 12 leaders, in both scoring and rebounding this season with 18.4 points and 8.5 boards a game. The 6-8 post led the nation in blocks and set new NCAA, Big 12 and Baylor records for single-season blocks with 223. She was an Associated Press All-America second-team selection, earned Women's Basketball Coaches Association honorable mention honors and was named national freshman of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. In addition, she was an All-Big 12 first team selection, Freshman of the Year, Co-Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the league's all-Defensive team. Griffin was an All-Big 12 honorable mention selections in 2009-10 at guard. She dished out an impressive 187 assists which ranked among the Big 12 leaders. Jones was second on the team in scoring at 10.4 a contest and was third in rebounding (6.3) while posting the team's best free throw shooting percentage at .815 and led the squad in steals with 46. Medlock averaged 9.7 points a game and ranked second in rebounding at 7.6 an outing. Washington started in 32 games as a freshman and averaged 7.3 points and 3.2 boards a contest while Hayden managed 5.6 points and 2.1 rebounds a game.